Evil Smells Like Icing & Magic
by menolikey
Summary: Natsuki can smell evil. Natsumi is also blind. One day, Natsuki, the blind, evil-smelling daughter of the chief of police, gets lost and follows the scent of a person who smells both like good and evil. Oga/OC.


I – Justice is Blind

* * *

><p>People in the police department say that I have a knack for sniffing out evil. It's not a metaphor or euphemism or anything: I can <em>really<em> smell evil.

_Impossible_, you may retort. But au contraire, my dear stranger, it's _so_ very possible.

_Okay... so what does evil smell like?_ you may ask reluctantly. Maybe you just want to play along and see where this leads. Maybe you're actually just a little halfway interested. Maybe you just want to humor me.

What does evil smell like? That's easy. It smells like a mix of melted icing and magic. True evil smells so sweet and powerful that once it leaves you, your appetite for it will be insatiable. Trust me. I have only smelled true evil once before and if my dad hadn't held me back, I... I probably... would have followed that person to the ends of the earth, to hell and beyond...

– – –

…Before it happened, I was in my father's police station. My father was going to take us home, but then the alarm sounded and father told me to stay put while he went to check out what had happened. Then an explosion caused a gust of wind to run through the offices.

Papers flew all over the place like little nervous daggers, fluttering and hurting my tender, eight-year-old self. I covered my eyes for fear of further damaging my useless eyes – it was a habit more than a necessity. Alarms were ringing. I wanted to cover my sensitive ears too, but I couldn't. I tried to cover my eyes with my palms and my ears with the tips of my fingers but my fingers couldn't quite reach.

I didn't know where father was and people were yelling and exclaiming something that I don't remember. Everybody sounded crazy. The world sounded mad. And I alone had to suffer through the insanity. And I alone did not know what was going on.

A man, a towering man, with a dark and deep voice and a soothing touch like cucumber on the naked skin in the midst of chaos held my hand. I hadn't noticed him – not even when he took my hands off from my eyes – until he asked me:

"My, my what a sweet child you are. All alone. Would you like to accompany me?"

His voice, as deep and dark and puzzling as it was, couldn't hide the sinister tone underlying his tantalizingly innocent, sing-songy question. Then, he bloomed. His fragrance burst from his every pore; I could feel it grace my skin, and all the chaos from before, all the paper cuts, and all the loneliness felt healed as his fragrance grew. My lids were half-lidded and I bit my lip as I did when I got tired. The air felt like silk. His touch felt like lukewarm milk chocolate. I swore I felt bliss.

"M..Mister. You smell nice," I said dumbly. His smell only swelled up more and I almost fell back.

"Really? How interesting..."

His hand was sliding out of mine, and I unconsciously grabbed his hands with both of mine. I didn't want to be alone again. I think he smiled. I could tell by the tone of his voice.

"Ara, ara. So I guess you're coming away to hell with me," he half-chuckled, half-grimaced at my touch. I thought he meant 'you're coming away from this hell with me.'

When we started walking hand in hand, I felt so at peace with myself (as if the world was simultaneously saying "ahh"). The world around me went so quiet – so different then a moment ago when the world sounded so loud. Now, it was so tranquil. So content.

Then it all went wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong.

The sweet-smelling mister let go of my hand. I turned to him. I heard a lot of guns cocking and shuffling.

"It looks like we'll have to part here, sweet child. I believe your father is looking for you."

"But I thought I was going with you!" I challenged.

"One day, little one. Not today." Then I could hear him walking away from me and I tried to follow.

Suddenly, somebody tugged on my arm so hard as if attempting to rip the arm off of a teddy bear. I was snatched out of the hands of the sweet-smelling mister's. I fought real hard. Turning on my little heels to hit the snatcher with my little fists, when I realized that he wasn't going to let go, I realized that it was father holding me back because he hugged me and told me it was okay. "Natsuki, Natsuki. Don't worry. You're safe now," he said. _Why?_ I wanted to ask, _Why would you pull me back?_

I vaguely remember hearing the shouting of a mob of people gushing towards the mister. I vaguely remember glass breaking and guns and crashing and bone cracking and father's friends crying out and silence and a laugh that so chilled me and a smell that so seduced me. I think mister escaped since my dad told me, "Natsuki, stay here. Tsuru," Tsuru was working as an intern at the police station at the time, "Tsuru. Watch Natsuki won't you? That bastard got away. I'm going to see if there's anything I can do about it."

"Be.. Be careful, Isumi," Tsuru whispered. Worry siphoned the usual liveliness from his voice. My father left after a little while.

Tsuru held my hand for the next few hours. His hand felt more like handcuffs. He kept petting my head, saying "It's going to be alright" even though it was more to assure himself than me. The sweet smell of the mister still lingered in the air and I wanted to follow it before it dispersed, but Tsuru kept rubbing my arms together as he placed me on his lap. "It's going to be alright," he said.

I hadn't seen the mister after that day. I often had dreamed of mister coming back for me and taking me away as he promised. Whenever I woke up from that dream, I realized I was still at home and started crying. I know that I shouldn't have been so unhappy because I had father and Tsuru, but I felt so at home with the mister and him abandoning me broke my heart. Father thought I was traumatized, so he hired Tsuru as his personal secretary and babysitter. I wished I could have told him that I was crying because I missed the mister –but then he would have hired a psychiatrist I'm sure! In many ways, the mister was my first love: so mysterious, so sweet and after meeting him, the world seemed to change. For a year, I turned at every sweet scent from pastry shops and down the halls of the police station, but none were him. All I was left with was a longing for that sweet smell…

– – –

So yes, the one evil person I have met ended up being my first crush. What does that say about me? Who knows.

Anyhow, so we've established that evil smells wonderful. If any of you are wondering what good smells like, it smells freshly pressed laundry or freshly baked bread. Good smells wholesome and refreshing.

You now might be asking, _Why can you smell evil? When did_ _this start? How_ _did you find out?_ I'm not exactly sure why or when. I mean, I've always had this ability but I had just never known why the police station smelled so sweet. I couldn't understand _why_. I just knew that it did.

One day when I was younger, I was walking through the police station with my dad. As we were passing by this one interrogation room, I told him something really sweet was in that room. Apparently, in the room, one of dad's colleagues was interrogating one of the biggest drug lords in Tokyo. My dad shrugged it off at first (he have concluded that I probably had a bad case of the sweet tooth), but as it occurred increasingly and with consistent accuracy, later, when I was eight, he asked me to come into a room and choose which suspect smelled sweeter. (The day before, Tsuru had off-handedly commented that perhaps I could smell evil; at first, father laughed off the idea, but what was the harm in testing it out?) I sniffed both of the men and told him the one on the right. A week of serious evidence-finding later, it turns out that he was the murderer and the guy on the left was just a person at the wrong place at the wrong time.

My "powers" (I don't really consider them powers as much as a sixth sense) can't be used as evidence in a court of law, but it does point the police in the right direction. Also, they can't be tricked. Perfume doesn't really work. Bathing doesn't work either. I like to think of myself as able to smell the aura off a person. The aura won't change whether or not you use fragrant soap. However, my powers sometimes aren't useful because many people aren't just black or white. Generally people do naughty things from time to time, but that's different from being a naughty person. So an average person, to me, will smell like a mixture of good and evil in which the good overpowers the evil. An average Joe may smell like a sweet vegetable, like sweet potato or a very plain sweet bread. It's not very helpful when differentiating a mean salesman and a petty thief.

My dad's tried to have my powers analyzed, but no professional seemed to be able to explain anything. They mostly account my supernatural powers as a weird sixth sense I'd acquired to make up for my blindness. Did I mention I was blind? My dad says that I've been blind since I was small.

– – –

Back to the present: on a particularly sunny day, I was walking down the street with my dog, Araya. I had gotten lost after trying to buy a present for my father's birthday, which was the day after the next. In the morning, I told myself that I would sneak away and buy my pa a nice new CK tie all by myself. After all, I was 16, so I assured myself that I could handle being alone on the street. So, under the afternoon heat, I set off walking to the shopping district with Araya and twenty thousand yen cash and a credit card in my pocket.

"Araya, I think we're lost," I finally admitted an hour into our journey.

Somehow or another, I arrived in an unknown neighborhood. Nothing smelled the same and nothing sounded familiar. Araya whimpered woefully. I was ready to haul out my cellphone and reluctantly phone my dad's secretary, Tsuru-chan, when I came across the most intriguing smell in the entirety of my life (it wasn't as enticing as the sweet-mister's but I couldn't really compare them – they were so different). From further up the street, a breeze wafted the fragrance to me: a oak-verbena-mint-honey-spice-musk aroma that smelled instantly sweet, good, eyes-rolling-to-the-back-of-my-head sexy, and delicious. (Spicy people or people who smell sexy are generally interesting people). I couldn't tell if this individual was good or bad or what. I had never experienced any smell like this before, so being the daughter of an investigator, I quickened my pace to check it out.

His smell was distinctly different than the mister's, but no less intriguing. While the mister's smelled deliciously sweet, this smell was a melting pot of everything that smelled good together. It smelled like a gourmet meal and the garden of eden.

"Come on, Araya," I said, tugging on Araya's chain. Araya huffed but acquiesced nonetheless, leading me forward.

I could feel the rays of warmth on my arms and the fresh wind through my fingers. The sweet, minty smell grew stronger and my skin felt tingly. Then, reaching the peak of a hill, I heard voices, two male voices and one female voice muttering amongst each other. From their voices, I guessed them to be teenagers. They must have just come back from school. I sighed, wondering what it must have been like to be a normal teenager.

Before I knew it, I was half jogging towards their voices, a stupid thing to do, mind you, since I could fall any moment. Araya tugged on his chain to slow down, but I disregarded him. I outstretched my hand, groping at air, towards the smell and towards the voices. Now the fragrant smell was intensified and my head felt like Willy Wonka's chocolate waterfall.

The voices seemed so near, now. They were talking about something about waking the baby up. I gave one last sprint toward the origin of the smell, the lowest of the three voices. He was on the left of the group.

"Excuse me!" I exclaimed, feeling the fabric of his school uniform or whatever rough material he was wearing under the tips of my fingers. But suddenly, he moved to my right, towards his friends, and I felt myself falling.

"Idiot Furu–!" his yelled out. He stopped mid-sentence. I heard some clothes rustling to the right –I think he was turning back towards me. Then, I ate dirt.

"Oi, oi! You okay?" The ruffling clothes came closer to me. Although the question should have a concerned tone, he made it sound a tad indifferent and demanding. Quickly, I pushed myself up from the ground. I had a faceache and my elbows were scraped a little, but overall, I wasn't doing so bad. Being blind, I got used to getting hurt. I've fallen down a whole set of stairs before (three times to be exact!), so this was nothing. I hoped that my face looked okay at least.

A hand grabbed my elbow and hauled me up. Araya barked at him a little before I shushed him. I would have pulled on his leash to shut him up, but his leash dropped somewhere as I braced my arms during my descent.

"**A**re yOu DOin**G** o**Ka**Y, miss?" he said, his voice more intense. It was throaty and dripping with crazy. His smell seemed sweeter now than before. It made me very interested about what his face looked like at the moment. He was so interesting.

I opened my mouth to say something, but his hand abruptly slipped from my elbow as if he were pulled away before another voice piped up in front of me. It was another male voice, this one was dripping in pheromones.

"Hello, miss," he articulated, "Is there anything I can do for such a lovely maiden as you this afternoon?" If I could see, I was sure that he was absolutely radiating. I could practically feel his smile.

I motioned for Araya to come closer, my hand fumbling in mid-air before I felt the top of his soft head. I patted him until I felt his collar, turned it until I felt his leash, and slid my hands along it until I had reached the looped end.

"Umm, I'm lost. I was wondering if you can tell me where the shopping district is...?" I asked hesitantly.

The pheromones boy spoke up first, "Oh, of course...Which one?"

"Gon, no... Gin...Ginza?" I fumbled. I wasn't sure what it was called. My papa usually just called it 'the shopping district.'

He replied, "You see that street over there? Well, from that street, you'll have to take the bus to– owww, what was that for?" Accompanying that "oww," I also heard a large thump. I'm guessing somebody smacked him on the head.

"You idiot," the female voice hissed, "can't you see that she's blind?"

A sudden unspoken feeling of "oh..." came off of the boy. "That's why Oga didn't scare her off yet – oww what was that for?" I assumed that he got hit again, this time by Oga, the other guy. I was beginning to think that the pheromones boy was the pushover of his group despite his initial confidence.

A soft, small hand wrapped around my free hand. "Here, I've got some free time. Why don't you let me take you there? Hmm?" the girl asked, "These neighborhoods aren't the best for a young lady to go wandering around alone." The girl smelled really nice too. Like roses and rain. She was nice.

"What about yourself?" I asked in return. I then heard a low chuckle.

"Don't worry about her. She can definitely take care of herself," the voice teased. Then, I heard a loud thump. _What_ _a violent group_, I thought to myself amusingly.

"Why don't we all go together? Come on Oga, didn't you say that Hilda asked you to buy a new toy for Baby Beel?" pheromone boy inquired.

"Alright, alright. Don't get your panties in a bunch Furuichi," Oga snorted.

"Okay. It's decided then. We'll go together!" Aoi, the girl, chirped. She took my left hand and started marching down the street. I knew she was happy that one of the boys was going too (I could hear it in her voice). I was pretty sure that she liked Oga who was walking on my right side, beside Araya. I think he instinctively stood there as a shield between the world and Araya and me. Furuichi stood on the other side of Aoi.

We walked in a comfortable silence at first. I was still bewildered how serendipitous the world was and how nice these strangers were. I felt a pang of doubt cross my mind, but I could smell the integrity that Aoi had and was instantly assuaged. Another smell, Oga's, swirled around him, and it smelled so delicious and refreshing at the same time. He was a wicked man, but also a honorable one. It was weird to say the least.

Then, suddenly I heard something.

"Dah!" a small voice exclaimed. It sounded like a baby. I abruptly stopped and consequently the rest of the party stopped. I turned my head to try to find the baby. What freaked me out was that I hadn't sensed a fourth person at all. Babies smell clean and baby-like and they smell intensely innocent, but I hadn't smelled anything like that in the five minutes I'd known these people.

"Dah!" it said again. Discerning that the sound came from Oga's back, I immediately drew closer to the baby and its smell hit me like a wall. It smelled so sweet and so inhuman. Like a … wild animal or something. Somehow the baby vaguely smelled like the mister. After hearing stories of the mister, I was sure that the mister wasn't entirely human (I know, I know there were no such things as ghosts or demons but nothing short of the supernatural could explain the things I heard he did); ergo, the baby wasn't human…? The theory seemed a bit out there.

"What's wrong?" Oga asked.

"That baby..." I started.

"You mean Baby Beel?" Oga said, "Oh yea, he's not my kid if that's what you're thinking..."

"No, no, I mean... that kid is different, isn't he?"

"Different? Nah, he's just a baby," Furuichi squeaked nervously.

"No, No. I mean the kid doesn't really … oh this is ridiculous. How could he be non-human or demon-spawn or something?" I asked off-handedly, chuckling at my own musings. _Their reactions will put me at ease, _I reasoned to myself.

"Eh?... Of ...Of course he is human! Ha aha! What a weird thing to say, right guys?" Oga laughed frantically. The other two and even the baby joined him. "What would make you say something like that?" he asked.

"Ummm... no reason in particular." I couldn't exactly tell them that I could smell evil, but their reactions were really suspicious. I let go of Aoi's hand and reached out to touch the baby to make sure it was a baby, in shape at least.

"Dah! Dah!" _Over_ _here, over here_, Baby Beel seemed to say.

A warm, coarse hand, weathered by more hardship than I thought possible of a teenaged boy, grabbed mine and put my hand on top of the baby's head. Baby Beel's hair fell through my fingers like silk and his skin felt like fleece. The baby might smell evil, but in the end it was just a baby wasn't it?

"Dah!" Baby Beel squealed in delight. It seemed to cheer at the attention and I couldn't help but smile. Demon spawn or not, Baby Beel seemed cute enough.

I reached for Aoi's hand again. We resumed our walking.

"It seems as though Baby Beel likes you," Furuichi stated gently. He sounded confused.

"Hmmm, do you know how to fight or anything?" Oga asked.

"Me, fight?" I chuckled, slightly embittered, "How can I fight when I can't even see what's in front of me?"

"Nah, I was thinking that you could fight from like sound or something. Like sense somebody else's aura and beat the crap out of them like that. That would be awesome!" Oga remarked. With that honest statement, he deflated the slight anger I found was amassing.

"Yea, but how could I see my surroundings? Like a rock that I could trip on. Or even a knife for that matter," I wondered.

"Argghh. That's true, isn't it?" Oga said finally. Then all five of us became silent again.

As I felt the stone beneath my converse, I heard street vendors frying food and people chattering on phones or to friends and cars zipping by. Every once in a while, I felt a cool _whoosh_ as the air conditioning ran out of a store when a customer went in or out. I smelled the balmy air and hot ramen and Oga. If it wasn't for Araya acting as a barrier between us, I think I would have found myself cozying up to Oga.

"So... I'm so sorry! What was your name?" Aoi asked.

"Oh. I'm sorry for forgetting to tell you! I'm Toushiro Natsuki," I told them.

"Natsuki?" Furuichi asked.

"'Natsu' as in summer and 'ki' as in hope," I elaborated.

"That's a really beautiful na–" Furuichi started out, but somebody's (Aoi's) hand smacked him quiet.

"Where are your manners? I am Kunieda Aoi. The rude one is Furuichi Takayuki. And the other one is Oga Tatsumi. So, Toushiro-san," Aoi interrupted, "What brings you to the shopping district? Or more importantly, why didn't you go with somebody else?"

"Oh." I lowered my head. I felt a little embarrassed that I went through all this trouble to buy my papa a gift. Teenagers didn't really do that nowadays, right?

"Come on, spit it out, shrimp," Oga said encouragingly (?).

"Oh, well... It's my father's birthday the day after the next and I felt like buying him a CK tie to show off to his coworkers, and I usually would have asked Tsuru-chan to take me, but I wanted it to be a secret (because Tsuru is such a tattle-tale sometimes). And besides, I thought I was old enough to go by myself... They always baby me. But then I got lost and here I am..." I blushed a little and started fiddling with Araya's chain.

"Don't you have friends or anything to go with ya? – Oww!" Oga yelled. I could just hear the glare the other two were shooting him.

"Ummm... not really," I said, "It's kind of hard to have friends when your overprotective father homeschools you and junk."

"Really? You don't even go to school?" Oga asked, honestly interested.

"No, we have a variety of tutors come and teach me everything: from braille literature to math to baking."

"Ah. You're a rich kid aren't you?" Oga asked.

"Yes, yes I am," I replied, hoping that that wouldn't create any animosity between us.

"Well whatever, Furuichi's pretty rich too, you know," Oga stated.

"I'm not that rich," Furuichi retorted.

"What does your father do for a living? If you don't mind me asking..." Aoi asks.

"Oh, it's no biggie. He's just the chief of police," I announced. For a second, I think the three of them froze. "What's wrong guys?" I ask.

"Oh nothing. Don't worry about it," Aoi finally declared.

"Well whatever. It's not like you guys are delinquents or anything," I said smirking. The three of them froze again. "What? Don't tell me you guys are? Well, at least you guys aren't from Ishiyama High. My father hates those kids." The three of them didn't make a sound. "...Are you serious, guys?"

"Well, I guess we shouldn't be dropping in on your house anytime," Furuichi laughed restlessly.

"Ah whatever. It's fine. You guys are really nice, delinquents or otherwise," I said to relieve the pressure around us. Still, I really meant it. "So, what's Ishiyama High like?"

As we get on the bus (Oga paid for my ticket), Furuichi exploded into escapades of what they had done in their school before it got demolished by some unknown catastrophe (when they were talking about it, they got quiet and rushed the subject). It became really lively with Oga interjecting (punching) when Furuichi over-exaggerated his helpfulness. I soon learned that Oga was a really strong fighter who trouble looks for and Aoi was the leader of the girls in their high school and Furuichi... unsuccessfully flirted and ran away a lot.

"We're here," Aoi said and all of us stepped off the bus. I could hear all the people in the shopping district. Every one of them had somewhere to be, it seemed. I could hear the delightful jingles of Western advertisements and high-heels on the stone ground and I could smell perfumes and money everywhere.

"I know where the shop is, come on," I said, and then muttered under my breathe, "The blind girl's leading. How funny."

I started to walk and the others started to follow behind.

"What's wrong guys?" I asked. I turned around.

"I've never come to Ginza to actually buy anything before," Oga says.

"Well, I have, you know, for girls... but I've stuck to the cheaper stores," Furuichi admitted. We walked some more, entering a huge department store through sliding doors. We headed to the crowded escalators directly in front of the doors, I felt them looking around them like American tourists.

"...Is it pretty?" I asked as we stepped off the escalators. I had never bothered to ask all the times I'd been here before. I hadn't before because it'd would have only made my father sad.

"I guess if you're into this kind of rich style," Oga states nonchalantly and pauses, "There's a lot of little lights and lots of rich stuff, ya know? Like we just passed a bunch of jewelry stores. They had a lot of fancy jewelry that looked like it was for old hags."

"Oh." I say. I felt this nice feeling easing itself into the pit of my stomach.

"Oh!" Aoi exclaimed.

"What is it, Kuneida-sempai?" Furuichi asked. I squeezed her hand.

"Oh nothing. I just saw this charm bracelet that Nene might have liked, but then I saw the price..."

"Swarovski is a little over-glorified, I admit, but crystal's nice. Well everybody says it is and it feels smooth. Being blind, it doesn't really matter. Hmm, how much is it?

"...It was eight... thousand yen," Aoi gulped.

"Wow...It's only 8,000 yen. They're really starting to give those away aren't they?" I say. Hearing the silence, I shot back, "...What?"

"8,000 yen? For a little bracelet?" Oga hollered.

"Right? That's what I thought. Way too cheap," I rolled my eyes.

"Are you kidding me, lady? That's obviously way too expensive," Oga hollered again.

"Is it really?" I asked. I never considered 8,000 yen to be expensive.

"Um... Natsuki-chan. Out of curiousity, what is the cheapest thing you own?" Furuichi inquired.

"Well... my uncle recently bought me some chocolates," I started, "Well... I think they're called... Go...Good Diva? No..."

"Godiva?" Aoi interjected.

"Yea those," I said, "they tasted pretty cheap to me."

"Oh heavens! We have a spoiled rich kid on our hands don't we?" Furuichi muttered to Oga and Aoi.

"Am I?"

"Definitely, there's no doubt about it. You've lived a good life," Oga said certainly.

"Wait a minute... Natsuki-chan. You said you're last name was Toushiro, right? As in the big company Toushiro?" Furuichi asks.

"Well my grandma and grandpa do own a company, yes," I mused, muttering, "Hmmm... I guess that's why there were this group of men who kidnapped me last month..."

"Your richness. It's not really important right?" Oga remarked after a few moments of silence. I think he could sense my awkwardness around the subject. The few people that ever got over my blindness never could get over my richness, and most people fawned over my richness and pitied my blindness.

"Of course it is! Don–" somebody shut Furuichi up. I heard the muffled noises coming from Furuichi. Again, I felt a warmness spread to my fingertips. Oga is really nice, isn't he?

"No, it's not," Aoi agreed, "Oh, I see the Calvin Klein store."

We, a group of four persons, one baby, and one great dane, stepped into the store, becoming instantaneously surrounded by a rich and new smell. A clerk came up to us and rudely said, "I'm sorry, children. This is no place for you to play. Also, we do not permit dogs... or naked babies into our store." I could feel Aoi's hand grip tighter on mine. On any other day if I walked into the store with my father or Tsuru-chan, I was welcomed with eloquence. This new behavior frankly surprised me. On TV, I'd heard of a lot of shows where a waiter or store clerk treated a person badly because of the way they were dressed or their age or their lack of money. So, I deduced that this man had some sort of issue with how my friends looked.

"Why you–" Oga started.

"Of course, you do. And you will," I interrupted, "Won't you allow the poor blind daughter of Renji Toushiro to shop here? Or shall we be forced to go to Louis Vuitton or Armani or even Channel?"

"Toushiro? You? As if!" the clerk sniffed contemptuously, "Now shoo children before I call security for libel."

"You think I'm lying?" I breathed sharply. I hated being treated with any sort of contempt. Aoi pulled my hand as if to say "let's just go" but with my blood boiling, I hardly noticed her. I felt my face grow cold and stony. I ground my teeth and pursed my lips in disgust.

Suddenly, another person came running up to the clerk and harshly whispered in his ear. I couldn't hear much but I did hear the emphasized, "...no... you fool...this...she's..._this is the heir of the Toushiro company, you twat!_"

There was an air of tension and then horror as clerk realized his frightening mistake. A satisfied smile graced on my lips. _Oh, is he going to get it..._

"Oh yes, oh yes! I'm so sorry for the confusion! I honestly... I didn't... Please forgive me and company," the clerk practically begged.

"What is your name?" I waited before enunciating every syllable. I wanted him to strain to catch my words.

"I... It is Moriyama. I'm terribly sorry about the miscommunication," he replied servilely.

I tilted my head. Usually, the fact that I didn't blink a lot (I don't need to) can be intimidating or so I'm told. "Tell me, Moriyama. Do you not work by commission?"

"Yes, yes I do..."

"Well, Moriyama. I was planning to buy a whole wardrobe and assorted accessories for my father today to commemorate his fortieth birthday, totaling what, two hundred thousand yen? Maybe even three hundred thousand, but you've made me wary on whether or not I should buy from this store altogether. I even brought my whole crew to help carry all of the purchases. Oga, what do you think?"

"..." I could hear Baby Beel gurgling with amusement on Oga's back.

"Hmmm, what about you Baby Beel? Do you think we should stay here?"

"Dah!" _No way!_ Baby Beel seemed to say.

"My thoughts exactly. What a shame Moriyama. You could have made good money today, maybe thousands. Now, you've gone and insulted the Toushiros' only granddaughter and Renji Toushiro's only child. Imagine the scandal: Calvin Klein kicks a poor blind Toushiro heir out. Imagine what my family would do. Imagine what their friends would do. And all because you had to judge me and my colleagues here," I turned on my heels and expected for everybody else to leave, "Big Mistake. _Huge_. Oh, and expect a call from your manager some time this week. Oh dear. I hope you don't get into _too_ much trouble."

A good distance away, all my new friends gathered around me.

"Woah, I didn't know you had that in you! You should've seen the look on his face!" Oga laughed devilishly. On his back, Baby Beel squealed in happiness.

"Oh please, it was nothing," I blush, "Papa always says that the first one to strike is the first one to win. And he says that people will always try to take advantage of me, so I gotta come back at them in a way that will cripple them forever. He says that that since I can't fight, I must take what they value and crush it until the pieces are so tiny that they won't even be able to use super glue to glue it back together, so they know never to mess with me again."

"You're not really gonna get him fired right?" Furuichi asks.

"No, no. I only wanted to scare him. Although if my family finds out, that's a different story. If my father found out, the clerk better hope he has a wife and multiple kids so my father will go easy on him..."

"... your father is kind of intense," Furuichi remarks, "I think I understand why Baby Beel likes you so much."

"Really how come?" I asked.

"Because you can be really evil sometimes too, can't you?" he says.

"Really?" I question, incredulously.

"No, no it's not a bad thing!" Furuichi quickly replies.

"Hmmm..." I began to wonder if that was true (I had never thought about it before), "Well, anyways, let's go to Armani or somewhere."

"Toushiro-san, do you really have two hundred grand on you?" Aoi asks tentatively, "'cause that type of money is dangerous to carry around..."

"Of course not. Don't be ridiculous. I only have twenty thousand on me, but I also have my personal credit card should I need it."

"Arggg rich kids," Oga happily adds, ruffling my hair.

We walk to Louis Vuitton, stopping for Haagen Daaz ice cream (of course, my treat for guiding me; they were quite adamant about not allowing me to pay, but I eventually persuaded them into thinking that that was my thank-you gift) and window shopping on their parts. They (mostly Oga and Beel) would relate what the stuff in the shops looked like. Once we arrived, because the gossip between the store clerks traveled so fast, three store clerks from LV welcomed us in and sucked up to us in every way possible. It must have been vexing for grown men and women to have to suck up to teenagers, and although they toned down eventually, I could tell that my company was not used to such pampering.

"Don't worry guys, being spoiled for a while won't hurt you!" I laughed, lounging back on a sofa. I first asked one of the clerks to bring me all the ties.

"What do these ties look like?" I hesitantly ask my friends. They took the time to explain every pattern I saw. In hindsight, I realize that I was glad to have met them or else it would have been a complete embarrassment to decide which tie upon arriving in. Ultimately, I ended up having each one of us choosing a tie and deciding to buy them all. We laughed a lot while goofing off. I listened to a lot of bickering and bantering and I felt suddenly very happy. I'd reminded myself that I hadn't really ever had friends my age before. All of my friends were Dad's friends at work or something.

"Ha!" cried out Furuichi, "I'd love to see Oga in a suit! That would totally look out of place!"

I giggled and I was pretty sure that Aoi wanted to see it too. I raised my hand, still giggling, "Excuse me, can we get a black tie suit for this gentleman here?" The clerk seemed to hesitate. I suddenly ceased to giggle. "Did I stutter? Let's see that suit shall we?"

About ten minutes later, Furuichi, Beel, and Aoi sniggered menacingly. I, who couldn't see him, was just amused at their reactions.

"Oh, Oga. You should see yourself! You look decent!" Furuichi cried.

"You... look... really good..." Aoi managed between chortles of laughing.

"Dah! Da Daaaa Dah!" Beel yelped.

"Oh god, I'm taking a picture," Furuichi said.

"SHUT UP! I'M TAKING THIS OFF RIGHT NOW!" Oga bellowed back at us, but didn't move to change.

"Does it look good?" I whispered to Aoi.

"...Yea, he looks … handsome," she gulped. I began to think that Aoi was actually a really cute, sensitive girl on the inside. It was a shame such a sensitive girl was wasted on such a dense guy.

It's times like this that I really wish I could see. You know? To see Oga raging. To see Aoi blushing. To see Furuichi laughing. To see the annoyed but amused looks across the other customer's faces. To see the smiles the clerks were trying to hide.

"Aoi, why don't you try on something too?" I say innocently. _Perhaps if_ _Oga can see how_ _cute and sexy Aoi_ _is, he'll start realizing that she likes him,_ I thought deviously. I motioned for a clerk to come closer.

"Will you give the lady something age appropriate, but not too age appropriate if you catch my drift," I whisper in her ear.

"Understood," the clerk smiles brightly and a little cunningly, "Miss. Aoi, please follow me."

Before Aoi could say anything, she was dragged away to the grey changing rooms. Oga sat beside me. His smell hit me again. I had almost forgotten about it. Oga smelled really minty, really herb-y in a really good way. Unconsciously, I yawned.

"You tired?" Oga asked.

"Maybe," I replied, yawning again. I checked my watch, stroking hour and minute hands. It was about six now. I had spent about two or three hours in this store. All the excitement of the day wore me out. Oga grabbed the side of my head and pulled me towards his shoulder where I stayed and almost fell asleep when Furuichi suddenly gasped.

"Oh. Dear. Sweet. Heavens." breathed Furuichi.

Instantly, I sat upright. Aoi had finished picking out an outfit. From the way it slid along the tile floor, I assumed it was a dress.

"Umm... do you like it?" Aoi asked Oga in particular.

Furuichi jumped to his feet, "Oh, it's not everyday we get to see the Queen all dressed up. What an _honor_ this is! I mean usually we don't get to see your –" I smacked him on the arm where I could to shut him up.

"Yeah. Aoi's in a blue dress thing by the way," Oga explained to me, "Well, we should be heading off. Lemme just take this junk off first."

"Then it's settled isn't it? We're getting this dress, too! How much is it?"

The clerk whispered the price in my ears and I whispered back, "We're getting this dress, but do me a favor and put in a fake receipt for something like a pair of earrings will you and put it in a separate bag?" The clerk told me she understood my meaning. "And also, will you also charge for that gentleman's suit and put it in the bag with the ties?" The clerk patted my shoulder in acknowledgment and walked to the cash register, obviously happy with the sale. She returned a few moments later with the receipt ("38,000 yen"), a bag for Aoi, and a bag for the ties and Oga's suit. As we walked out of the store, I stuck the receipt in my front jacket pocket and motioned for Aoi to take her bag.

"Here you go Aoi, I believe this belongs to you," I said.

"Oh no no no! I couldn't possibly take something so nice!" Aoi faltered.

"No, trust me, it was on sale. It was very affordable especially for the quality. It would have been a total waste if I _didn't_ buy that dress. Trust me. Besides, you never know when you're going to need a dress. Maybe a school dance, for example," I hinted raising my eyebrows, "Besides, the store doesn't allow refunds on sales either, so it's either you take it or I'll have to throw it away since I already have so many dresses."

"...Okay, I guess I'll take it," Aoi shakily accepted the bag and reached for the receipt first.

"How much was it?" Furuichi asked.

"Oh wow. It was only 2,000 yen. I didn't expect it to be so low!"

"What did I tell you?" I shrugged, smiling inwardly, "It's a win-win situation. You have a new dress and I have new ties that all of you helped me choose. What more could I ask for?"

As we rode the escalator down in silence, I slowly realized that I had met this group of people completely by accident and that I probably would never see them again. I didn't exactly know where I found them and I didn't exactly know how to contact them after this. When went through the revolving doors into the chilly evening, I knew the fun day I had with these strangers – in the end, they were just strangers, weren't they? – had ended.

"I guess this is goodbye, no?" I sadly ask.

"For today," Oga says, "Don't think you can just pay us off without having to deal with us tomorrow or anything."

"Pay you off?" I was genuinely surprised.

"You've bought us such nice things today," Aoi chimed in, "You'll have to give us a chance to repay you." Then her cellphone started vibrating... "Oh, hello, grandpa? I'll be home in a bit... I just went shopping with a new friend... Yea, I'll be careful. See you soon."

She had called me her new friend. Then, Aoi looked at me, "Toushiro-san, you do have a phone right?"

I nodded uncertainly. I took it out of my pocket. Aoi took it from me and began to type in what I assumed was her number. "Okay, there you go. That's the number to my grandpa's dojo. Just remember to ask for Aoi. I have to start heading home now. See you later Toushiro-san."

"Natsuki, it's Natsuki," I blushed.

"See you later, Natsuki," Aoi said before walking off. _Wow, what a cool exit,_ I thought.

"Here," Furuichi said, taking the phone from my hand and typing in his own number (with ulterior motives, I bet), "Remember, you can call me anytime if you need to talk or whatever."

"... Okay," I smirked.

"How are you getting home?" Furuichi asked.

"Cab, I guess. My house isn't that far away," I replied.

"At least let me call a cab for you," he commented cooly.

After a few minutes and many failed attempts at flagging down a cab, Oga pushed him over and forced a cab to stop.

"Are you sure you can get home by yourself safely?" Oga asked.

"Of course," I reply, "there's nothing that can go wrong in a cab in Tokyo at night." An uneasy silence followed.

"...Why don't we ride along with you and we'll take the train back?" Furuichi quiped in.

"That's not necessary, Furuichi...kun. I may be blind and totally incapable of doing anything if I get attacked, but I have Araya (or have you already forgotten about him?)," I smiled. My smile faltered. _Wait, I'm not actually helping_ _my_ _case here, am I?_

"That's it! We're coming with you," Oga roared, "can't leave you alone, can we?"

"Dabu!" Beel cried in agreement.

We all packed into the back of the taxi cab and set off for my house with me squashed in the middle, Araya under my feet, and Baby Beel on my lap. I yawned.

"What time is it?" I asked. I couldn't be bothered to check my watch. I was too tired. All day shopping trips didn't happen often (or at all) for me.

"It's like seven thirty," Furuichi responded. He was on my left. It never occurred to me to smell him, but now in the enclosed taxi, his smell wafted over to me. Furuichi smelled like moss. It's very natural and useful, but, not to say he wasn't that great or anything but, he just didn't smell as interesting as Oga smelled.

"It'll take maybe half an hour to an hour to get home. Wake me up when we get there..." I yawned again and instinctively rested on Oga's shoulder; I wanted to smell him more. Wrapping myself tighter in my jacket, I let myself fall asleep because I recognized that there was no way I would stay up any longer plus it was really comfortable and warm and he smelled really good. His scent lulled me into dark-honeyed dreams...

"Hey, Natsuki... Natsuki-chan?" Furuichi's voice woke me up. "Natsuki-chan we're at your house."

"Mmmm... Okay, okay." I paid the taxicab and Oga helped me out and onto my feet. I sleepily leaned on him as we walked to the intercom.

"Hey... Tsurrrruu! Let me in," I yawned.

"What time do you think it is, you? Don't you know that your father is worried sick about you? Argg and I have to deal with it! Hold on, I'm coming to get you," a voice growled into the intercom which soon went silent.

"Natsuki-chan, this is probably a bad time to tell you, but your cellphone was ringing like crazy and –"

"Whatever..." I sleepily responded.

"...and Oga kind of answered, and you know, knowing Oga, he kind of made it sound like we abducted you..."

"... That's not good," I announced unconcerned, "Whatever, he'll get over it."

The huge wooden door slid open to reveal a lean man in his early thirties. He had a long ponytail and very large lands. He was Tsuru. Tsuru smelled like a forest after a summer drizzle.

"What in the world? Not only do you come in _late_ but now you brought two boys, delinquents from the look of it, home? Why do you make me worry so much? Jeez. Okay just tell me why you were out so late," Tsuru nagged.

"Aiya. It's cuz I went to go buy some ties for papa and then I got lost and then these nice people showed me the way to Ginza and then we went together to buy stuff. It's in this bag. You'd better hide it before he sees. Oh and Tssuuuruuuu-tan~" I sugarcoated my words as I walked towards the house. He took the bag from my hands.

"...What do you want, Natsuki?" he felt uneasy.

"Will you pretty, pretty, pretty please take my friends home before Daddy finds them? I don't want daddy to overreact and blow this whole thing out of proportion, okay?"

"But..."

"Now, Tsuru-tan. You don't want daddy's blood sugar to go up again do you?"

"...I'll go get the car ready," he sighed.

As we stepped into the house and take off our shoes, I release Araya to go get some food and water. "Come on, let's hide out in my room until Tsuru is done escaping my father." Furuichi came to try to help me walk, but I shrugged his kind hand off my shoulder. "Furuichi, don't underestimate me. I know my own house well enough." I didn't intend to sound mean, so I smiled pleasantly and hoped I got my message across.

Once in my room, I flopped onto my fluffy bed face first because Baby Beel was clinging to my back. Once I landed, Baby Beel started to crawl around the soft bed.

"Your bedroom is huge... My whole living room and kitchen combined aren't this big," Oga observes.

"Is it? I dunno. I don't really have anything to compare to." I could tell the boys felt uncomfortable standing and feeling out of place. "You guys can sit down, you know. I won't bite." One body fell beside me, Oga. Furuichi sat at the corner of my bed before following suit.

"I hope Tsuru will act faster before my pa finds out about you two."

Immediately afterwards, my bedroom door slammed open, the noise creating the start of a headache. "TOO LATE!" a husky voice bellowed.

"Dad, stop making such loud entrances!" I yelled back, covering my ears with my pillows.

* * *

><p>AN: In the beginning, I had just planned on a normal high school girl who started liking Oga because he smelled nice (they say that smell is really important in the person you like because the better that person smells, the more differing genes you share and thus will probably produce stronger offspring; sweet is generally a smell/bad you want to avoid b/c that means your person is: a) psychotic, b) has a deformed genetic deformation, or c) is related to you). Also I was inspired by Lance Morrow's Evil. You should read the Time article, it's really good. Let's see, what else can I recommend while I still can? Olivia Olson is an awesome singer, methinks (coincidentally, she's Vanessa from Phineas and Ferb). You can see a connection can't you? I'm in love with P&F ~

Btw. Kudos to anybody who can find the quotes from Phineas and Ferb or Pretty Woman. There are 3 quotes from P&F that I know of and 1 small, very obscure one from Pretty Woman.

Edit: 1 July 2013. Woah, I just realized that this was a _first person _story and that the ending is somewhat very different from the beginning. Anyhow, hoped you liked it. Please review!

Till next time~


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